quikslvr

Strange, dark incense/spiced beginning--evokes a weird potpourri my mom used to have around. Black waters, definitely. I got no citrus, as others did--rather, I'm picking up more pine. Smells like what I think the Florida Everglades should: mossy, dank, deep, and creepy. When hours dry, goes more perfume-y: rather like what I remember Dior's Poison to be like.

The "wet woods" note isn't promising to my tastes. The topnotes of jungle blossoms are lovely, but the underscoring woodsiness is too true-to-life foresty/earthy for my tastes. Very accurate, very appropriate, but just not me. (I got no banana at all.)

Bright at first. Then sweet and darker. The patchouli darkens it nicely, although it's mostly honey/clove, I think. Goes more patchouli/clove as dries. Softens some later.

Mint, vanilla, and some kind of floral at first. Oh! Pennyroyal--could be. I used to have it around my room, but I'd have to find some again to be sure. There's the fake mint note at the top, and possibly some jasmine or lotus underneath? That floral, that only hits at the very last breath of the whiff, is intriguing, and quite elusive. I can't get past that very high-in-the-nose mint to figure out what's underneath, and it's driving me crazy. Settles down to a nice, fresh floral.

The best-smelling shampoo ever, mostly. Or dryer sheets, sort of. Bright bright whiteness and florals. Beautiful, but not really me. Fades pretty quick after the first hour.

The early stage seems very strong, herb-like. Early on, there's also a tinge I associate with cooking (may be the rosemary, may be the benzoin). It lightens quickly to a very commercial-smelling floral, though. Clean, fresh, but definite flowers.

Sweet, sweet incense. A bit of a fruitier (wine?) topnote than a lot of BPAL's incense. Very dry, though--not really juicy. Settles down into a warm, comforting honeyed incense scent. Frankincense or some such?

That's apricot, all right, but it's not as sharp as I've found it in other blends. It's softened here, and is much more enchanting this way, to me. Darker, perhaps. Soft and subtle throughout its lifetime. Very pleasant. I don't get as much of the boozy feel others seem to, which makes this scent pretty work-safe for me. (I agree with the above review: fruit leather, but not the leathery leather in other blends, obviously)

"Oh, it's lovely" was my first reaction. Sweet and smooth, cream with a sharper topnote and just a touch of vanilla. Ah. Carnation is that topnote. We'll see how this goes, because carnation doesn't always jive with my skin. The carnation brings with it a bit of spice, at this point. Now I see the comparison to Alice, for certain. Dries down to mostly rich spice/incense (think Black Phoenix, etc). Pretty scent, but the carnation tinge just doesn't sit well with me--same problem I had with Alice.

Dark dragon's blood start. Then myrrh pops. Gets smokier, sharper, yet more smoothly blended together. Oh! Then red musk, which is wonderfully sexy. It's kind of a heavier, more aggressive version of Black Phoenix's latter stages (or Lilith, or Laudanum, or Voodoo) to me. Seems to fade fast, but it's a lovely spiced skin scent for me.

Very ozone-y, pure and light, with some dark. Like a storm that you can sense the light behind. It's very clean, and I totally see why people associate it with dryer sheets. But I tried this on a day that started dark due to rain, and hasn't lightened yet--and it's just perfect for it. Very simple, very pure. Very post-fresh-rain (not especially during). (not really me for normal wear, though, likely.)

Not the same tobacco scent I'm used to--not the sweet one from Perversion, or at least that one's not emerging yet. I've got the rum and a dark resiny, which is probably the tobacco, lined with a little bit of floral. Perfume-y for awhile. Definitely exotic. Perhaps even a hint of incense (which is probably this version of tobacco). Feels tropical after a bit--salt spray and overgrown beach huts and all. Ah! This is spiced rum, rather than the buttery rum. That's why that combo turns into incense/clove. Much like the tobacco isn't quite Perversion tobacco, which has a hint of cherry to me--this is a more sophisticated, older man's pipe tobacco. Dry, there's a floral top to it--lily of the valley or some such. But it's creamy, smooth, and heady. Gets progressively more masculine, and picks up the Perversion tobacco scent a little. At first whiff, I thought this one was off to swaps. By now, though, it has firmly captured me. But yes, it is heady/perfume-y. Not getting near the allergic folks with this one.

Strange, kind of sharp at first. Putting my nose to it, I don't love the green sharpness of it, but its waft is lovely. A vanilla, sort of. While drying, fig gets my attention if I put my nose to it, but the waft is all almond vanilla. A touch of coconut appears in the waft if you really try to put your nose on it, so to speak (not nose to wrist, but trying to identify the scent). There's a fruity fig center to it, but the outer edges are just that beautiful touch of Snow White. Definitely getting a larger bottle of this, although I may save it for an order that would arrive in early spring--this doesn't strike me as a fall/wintery scent.

Suntan lotion coconut smell with citrus to start. Then it smells like lemon-lime candy for awhile. A little touch of mint, and vanilla coconut cream/milk is hiding under the overwhelming citrus. Once it's dry for awhile, it settles into a clean, light, soft vanilla-y citrus--or, sometimes it morphs to coconut vanilla milk.

Such a dark start, dominated by the myrrh and black poppy. I can smell the nutmeg if I try to single it out--that darkness of spice. Very dark, though. Reminiscent of, well, Darkness, and a few other blends. Very strong, until long past dry, when it goes more smoky. When it dries, the sweetness of the sassafrass comes out, but always darkened by the nutmeg and myrrh, and only if you take a deep enough breath to be uncomfortable (for me). I like it when it's calmed down some. I know that tones of this are in some of my favorites (like Black Phoenix, I believe), but I think it's a bit too powerful on its own for my tastes.

Soapy start. Then the sweet-tartness begins. It's a weird combo to me: this smells more like something I'd use in a diffuser than something I'd wear. There's a shift to a fruity champagne scent next. Unfortunately, this is getting to my nose in that sneezy sort of way, so I don't think I'll be keeping this one.

The obligatory disclaimer: I'm not an expert note-detector, especially when it comes to florals. So I'm not entirely sure this is accurate. CCCXCV (395): In the bottle, smells like a perfume my dad's girlfriend might've worn once, a long time ago, but not one that was a signature scent of hers. On skin wet: Very beautiful and sophisticated light scent, which I can't readily identify as either floral or musk, though those are the tones it's closest to. This one feels intensely complex. I think it's floral, and floral of the subtle aquatic variety. On drydown: It gains that intense clean, verging on soapy (but not!) tone. A very clean, very floral phase hits next. Florals are not my forte, unfortunately, but water lily is as close as I can get. As for comparisons to others: I don't tend towards florals, as I said, but Leanan Sidhe is as close as I can think of. It walks just this edge of being so clean it's soapy, and then settles into a brilliant white perfume--very springy and very confident. I imagine this worn by a woman in white, her dress tossed in a spring wind. This is strong, though. It lasts. By the very, very end, it ends up as the scent I associate with "mists." CCCLXX (370): In the bottle, very reminiscent of another BPAL blend I can't place. On skin wet: Strong, strong fragrant herbs, and tones of the more "commercial-smelling" (to me) BPAL blends. On drydown: A bare hint of orange blossom, or something else high in the nose and kind of sharp. Very sophisticated, though. An evening at the opera sort of scent. Certainly floral, though. Iris or orchid, perhaps? Possibly some fig? Wine, maybe? But not intrusive--more the alcohol scent of it than the redness of it. The more I sniff this, the more it seems like a high-end designer fragrance that only those that can afford it could wear. It's a little deeper and more mysterious than CCCXCV (395): the type that a dark-haired woman with light eyes, her hair pulled back, in an evening gown would wear as light from the chandelier reflects from her eyes across the room and she turns away, the cloud of gems at her neck making her face light up as she disappears into the crowd. It's beautiful, beautiful. Well-balanced and striking. I'm falling in love with this one, I have to say, but I fear never having an important enough occasion to wear it. Definitely a berry component coming out later, I think, but very dark ones--plum, black currant. Those sorts. In tone, if not in notes, this reminds me of Kali and Bordello. Gorgeous, but way more than I can live up to.

Very light, very grapefruit-y start. High in the nose, a piercing white aquatic. Lotus becomes predominant, then the hint of mint emerges. Lovely, rather sophisticated, but not very me. It seems a bit haughtier a scent than I can get away with, as down-to-earth as I am.

Ooh. Dark violet. The gardenia makes the violet more mysterious. As it dries, it turns more fresh and more violet, but definitely a dark violet. I am so not a floral person--but if I were, this would be my choice of violet.

Very suave bergamot--very masculine and very cologne-y. The leather/anise combo makes it seem a tad incense-y, as well, although that may be the patchouli talking. I didn't get any lavender from this at all--a good thing, in my book. This is amazing, and gorgeous, but very sophisticatedly masculine and somewhat on the commercial end of scents. While it starts bergamot, then goes to leather/anise/patchouli, every once in awhile it reveals the citrus/bergamot combo, which is almost intrusive. Aggressive. That sort. Later, though, it gets very soft, barely wafting around any. Might be one that needs to be refreshed often.

Very soft, a bit powdery, and a little hard to place as floral. Not my thing, though--I can tell that from the start. I identify it as high and yellowy in tone. It seems that a similar scent might be used in baby products or something--or perhaps it just went baby powder on me. Hard to tell.

Very floral at first: the syrupy strength of night-blooming jasmine. Softens to a gentle floral myrrh, quite dark and soft.

Odd green almond start, but that phase is brief. Something here reminds me of Black Phoenix as it dries down--spicy, definitely, but on the herbal side. A few hours later, it seems to have been swallowed by my skin--but I'm not sure since I seem to be having an allergy attack. Not sure if it was #20 or the vacuuming I just did that started it, though. This was a freebie from the Lab. Thanks so much!

Dark, musky rose at first. Kind of weird interaction between roses and amber, which I'm not sure I like. It evokes some memory I'm not completely comfortable with, but can't nail down. Later, though, it becomes a very nice overlay of soft, dusty rose on top of Black Phoenix-like incensey spice.

Very light, very herb-y at first. Generally, a sweet and light pastel aquatic floral. Beautiful, kind of misty, but definitely floral. Almost soapy--it's on that clean edge, but walks it well. Ethereal, one of those elusive smells that you catch on the edge of your awareness, but when you turn attention to it, it escapes you.